Perfection
by Aerrow4Ever
Summary: Piper is jealous of Aerrow for always being the hero, but what effect will an argument between these two best friends have on their job as a Sky Knight Squadron? Oneshot in 2 chapters. ! A4E !
1. Chapter 1

Hey All! Long time since I've been writing and I felt this one was quite a nice lil one. Its just a oneshot, but it'll be submitted in two chapters, because I haven't finished but I want to get the general opinion on it =) Hope you like the beginning!

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><p><span>Perfection<span>

"Piper!"

Her Heliscooter was spinning out of control, less than a league away from crashing into the wastelands. Of all the days to forget to recharge the crystals! She thought furiously at herself.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her wrist and Piper found herself dragged off the falling ride and onto the back seat of a skimmer. A mop of soft red hair brushed her face as she wrapped her arms around her saviour's lean waist. Aerrow...

"Hold on tight!" He yelled over the screech of his own engine and the blasts of crackling red energy coming from behind them.

Piper's reply changed into a scream when vertigo gripped her stomach as the skimmer dropped suddenly and started to corkscrew. She pressed her face into Aerrow's back and held on for dear life. Somewhere near her head she heard him swear.

And then there was no seat underneath her and they were in free-fall. A second scream came to her lips, but was silenced when Aerrow's glider snapped open and they were rising just as suddenly as they had been falling.

"Hold these." A set of crystals were suddenly thrust into Piper's hands, wedged between her vice like grip on his waist.

They flew wildly, dodging the energy blasts still chasing them. Piper heard Aerrow hiss with pain and smelt burnt material. If only I'd charged the crystals!

"Drop the crystals, now!" Piper obeyed Aerrow's voice, releasing her hold only enough to let the crystals fall from her grasp, before clutching back at his waist to stop herself falling. She heard the clatter of crystals falling into a converter and looked down.

Junko grinned up at her as his engine stopped its spluttering and roared back to life. It took all the weak crystals from his own ride and from Aerrow's fallen skimmer to power just the one.

Piper felt Aerrow drop and they landed on the back of the seat. A glimpse of blond hair and blue fur from the front meant Finn and Radarr were already on the front of the skimmer.

"Excellent, just one target left." The mocking voice of The Dark Ace a little to the right made Piper reach for Aerrow again, but suddenly he wasn't there.

"And that one target is you!" In one nimble leap, Aerrow was on the Dark Ace's skimmer and his twin blades severed both wings. A duck under the blazing red sword, a swift kick to the older man's face, a leap from the front of the skimmer that sent it spinning and Aerrow was back, seated in front of Piper, throwing a handful of stolen crystals into the converter again.

The Dark Ace howled in fury as his skimmer span away, with no crystals to power it back on course. They watched his glider snap open and fly away as his skimmer crashed to the wastelands, joining Finn's, Aerrow's, and Piper's Heliscooter.

Powered by many weak crystals instead of just a few strong ones, Junko steered back to the Condor and landed the whole Storm Hawks Squadron, minus Stork who was flying.

"Guys I..." Piper didn't know what to say, she was so embarrassed. "I'm so sorry I didn't charge the crystals, I just...Aerrow your arm!"

"It's just a scratch." Aerrow put a hand over the place where one of Dark Ace's blasts had found their target. "Don't worry about it." He smiled at her. It only made Piper feel even worse. She moved to help him but he stepped away from her to a first aid cupboard to get a bandage.

"Let me do it." Piper insisted, but he was already tying up his arm, facing away from the team so as not to, she knew, show how bad it was.

"It's fine, I can do it myself Piper. See? All done." Aerrow turned round and smiled at her again, she looked down and started to apologise again.

"Hey now! No worries. We all made it back safe and sound. And kicked some Cyclonian butt too!" He laughed as Finn high-fived him and winked to Piper.

"Dude! That was brilliant!" Finn gave Piper a patronising look as Aerrow walked away. "Thank Atmos we've got you to clean up all of Piper's messes."

Piper glared at Finn as he followed Aerrow and Junko through the door, then looked down at the floor, ashamed and angry, wishing what Finn said wasn't true, and hating that Aerrow hadn't denied what Finn said.

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><p>The next day, Aerrow stumbled as his shoulder collided with something hard. He turned with his mouth open to apologise to his team member, but the words froze on his lips when he saw the look on Piper's face as she shrugged him off and stalked away. Puzzled, he walked after her into the bridge to find Stork standing by his side almost instantly.<p>

"I think we may have a problem with the Condor," Stork said, leaning in far too close to Aerrow for comfort, "She keeps losing power. It could be leechers again, or a slight glitch in the engines, or-"

"I'll get Junko straight on it, Stork, no worries." Aerrow replied with an easy smile. Stork, slightly reassured, jumped back to his beloved position at the helm.

"You can't just get Junko on it." Said a harsh voice from the seating area. "You have to ask him." Piper was sat, looking out the window casually, but there was a dangerous edge to her voice that made Aerrow frown.

"Of course I'll ask him, he's the engineer..." Aerrow trailed off as Finn and Junko walked in and the day began.

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><p>The day was quiet, but full of activity. Several times Aerrow tried to talk to Piper, but found himself stuck with the cold shoulder and a harsh tone to her voice that he was unaccustomed to. As dusk drew around the Condor, Aerrow climbed onto the outsides on the Condor for a breath of fresh air, then stopped when he saw Piper sat watching the sunset.<p>

She hadn't heard him, so Aerrow moved silently next to her.

"Hey." He said softly. Piper yelled in surprise and struck with her staff, which Aerrow ducked under and held up his hands. "Woah, it's me!"

"Aerrow!" Piper's face darkened and she returned her staff to her side. "Don't sneak up on me! Just because you can doesn't mean you should. You're not the only one who can be stealthy!" She sat back down with crossed arms.

Aerrow was baffled.

"I didn't know you were up here, I'm sorry for scaring you." He apologised, "I didn't mean to."

Piper sat in stony silence and didn't even turn to face Aerrow as he sat down next to her.

"What's up?" No reply. "Have I don't something wrong?"

"That's exactly the problem!" Piper glared at him and his confused face, soft hair blowing in the breeze, strong jaw, perfect eyes...Perfect everything.

"You don't do anything wrong! You waltz around here thinking you can do everything, you can't do anything wrong, so proud and boasting, you're worse than Finn!"

"Ouch, Piper!" Aerrow felt like he was being stabbed in the chest. Surely this wasn't Piper, his best friend, talking like this? "I don't boast! Where's this come from?"

"From you!" Piper jumped to her feet and looked down on him, her hands balled up into fists. "You're no better than the rest of us! You make mistakes too!"

"I know I do! I never said that I don't." Aerrow thought about the day before. "Is this about yesterday?"

"So what if it is?" Piper turned away from him with crossed arms again.

"Piper," Aerrow soothed, "No-one blames you for that! It was an accident, it could have happened to anyone. You're a busy person, so you forgot one thing one time? Big deal."

"But it just happened to be the one time that it was a big deal. But you can't judge me!" She whirled back to face him. Her shame at herself made her angry, but she was too busy being ashamed of herself to be angry at herself too, so she aimed the anger at the one person she was jealous of, and wished she could be like. "You're not better than any of us, you make mistakes too! Mr. Perfect!" She scoffed. "Well you're not! You're no good, you can't do everything! You'd be nothing without us, you are nothing!"

Piper whirled around and threw open the door to the inside. Aerrow sat motionless as the hatch slammed shut behind her. A wave of cold rushed over him that had nothing to do with the setting sun. Her words struck deep, insecurities that always were and always had been with him, buried under the responsibilities of being a Sky Knight. But if his best and closest friend could think that of him, call him, What was it? He thought, Oh yes, proud and boasting. He shivered and wrapped his arms around his legs.

"You are nothing!" Nothing. That's what she said. That's what she thought. Do the others think that too? A cloud of doubts descended on him, and Aerrow sat with his arms wrapped round his knees as night fell around him.

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><p>There you go, just a little bit for now, what do we think? !~A4E~!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**And here's the rest of the story, Enjoy!**

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><p>Finn rubbed his eyes as he walked onto the bridge. It was gone midday, but it was morning to the late night rocking Finnster.<p>

He yawned and reached for a bowl of cereal. Making his way to the central seating, Finn started chomping and looked round at the other occupants of the bridge. Stork and Junko were inspecting some valves, no doubt for some minor fault Stork's sensitive ears had picked up. Piper was sat quietly with a set of scrolls at the table. Radarr was nowhere to be seen: he would be with Aerrow, wherever he was.

But when Radarr walked in alone five minutes later, Finn started to wonder where Aerrow actually was. It was unusual for Radarr to be very far from his friend for any length of time, especially if he had the chance to hitch a lift on his shoulder.

In fact, now Finn came to think about it, he hadn't seen Aerrow since early last night. And the Sky Knight was always the first awake, an early riser. He swallowed his last spoon of cereal.

"Where's Aerrow got to?"

Everyone but Piper turned to regard him.

"Probably in the training room." Junko suggested. "Haven't seen him."

"Not even for breakfast?" Finn asked.

Junko just shrugged.

"Radarr?"

The blue creature whined and laid his ears back in a negative.

"What? You haven't seen him either?" Radarr nodded. Finn was very surprised at that. "You share a room, you must've seen him!" Radarr shook his head. "Um, okay. This is getting kind of weird now. I'm gonna go find him."

Finn knocked on Aerrow's door, but it opened to his touch. The room was empty, and weirder still, the bed was empty and the covers were neatly smoothed out, as if it hadn't been slept in since the night before. When Radarr appeared by his feet, Finn asked the creature, "Did Aerrow sleep in here last night?" Radarr whined again and shook his head. "Where on Atmos is he then?"

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><p>Piper was sulking. She'd spoken barely a word to anyone since last night and the anger that had gripped her so strongly before was now simmering under the surface.<p>

But stronger than that was the beginnings of guilt starting to rear its ugly head. She hadn't meant to lose it so much like that, and she didn't really believe anything she had said to Aerrow. But she was still angry. And she wasn't about to start going looking for Aerrow when he wasn't even ready to apologise.

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><p>It was an hour later when Radarr stopped suddenly to sniff at a hatch to the outside of the Condor and point up at it. Finn was bored of searching the ship but he was getting worried now. This was one of Aerrow's favourite places to calm down after a busy day. Without hesitation, he pushed open the hatch and climbed out.<p>

At first Finn thought it was some strange creature perched on the hull of the ship, but when he looked closer he could see it was Aerrow, sat hunched up in a tight ball, staring aimlessly out at the clouds. His hair was limp and wet like his clothes and the occasional shiver racked his body.

"Aerrow!" Finn knelt down by his friend. "Dude I've been looking all over for you! Why are you so wet?"

"Rained." Aerrow mumbled, not even looking at Finn.

"Aerrow? You haven't been out here all night have you? Radarr said you didn't go to bed last night." Finn took Aerrow's silence as an affirmative. "Why did you do that? You're freezing!"

"I'm fine." Aerrow said, his voice becoming a little stronger, despite the tremors in his arms.

"You don't look very fine to me. Come on, let's get in the warm." Finn watched him warily, this was so un-Aerrow like of him. Finn was reminded of their time together as kids, when Aerrow would hunch up like this, full of doubts or nervousness. But he hadn't seen that side of Aerrow for years, not since he went to the Academy to become a Sky Knight.

Aerrow sighed. "Finn, can I ask you something?" Aerrow began rubbing his arm, trying to get some feeling back in them.

"Course you can, the Finnster is right here, chicka cha!"

"Do you think I'm...Do I-"

The Condor's alarm drowned out the rest of Aerrow's words.

"Talk later, come on!" Finn paused for only a moment to look at Aerrow, worry in his eyes, before they flicked to the horizon where a row of red dots signalled approaching talons.

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><p>Aerrow jumped into the seat of his skimmer, Radarr already in position. His team was ready behind him, eager faces ready for the thrill of the fight.<p>

"Let's show these idiots who's the man!" Junko punched his fist into the air.

"Um, the Dark Ace is with them again, so, you know, a victory like yesterdays would be good." Stork's voice came over the intercom.

"Haha! Don't you worry Stork. We've got Aerrow, what could go wrong?" Finn, Junko and Radarr grinned at Aerrow. All he saw was the cold look from Piper and how she turned away from him and started her engine. He slumped in his seat as they others took off from the landing strip.

"Hey Aerrow come on!"

Aerrow took off as Finn's voice came through his radio, and he flew into the battle, eyes downcast.

The talons were no match for the Storm Hawks. Finn blasted several off their skimmers with ease as Junko punched his way through others and Piper knocked the rest off. The pump of adrenaline in her veins let Piper throw out all her anger and frustration and she felt herself starting to smile again.

Aerrow fired a few blasts from his daggers to unseat the first talons he came in contact with. He didn't jump up in his seat or stand on the wings or use any complicated moves. All he could think about was Piper's scowl at him. He wouldn't do anything to show off.

But as the Dark Ace flew straight for him and slashed at him from above, blood red sword snarling, Aerrow was forced to barrel roll away. He smelt burning and saw the tip of his hair had been singed because he barely moved in time.

"Another day Aerrow and we meet yet again." The Dark Ace sneered widely at him. Aerrow didn't reply. Instead he pushed his skimmer forwards and began the battle.

They slashed and parried, ducked and dodged, but each time the Dark Ace jumped up on his ride Aerrow retreated to a safe distance and fired basic blasts of energy.

"What's this?" The Dark Ace remarked in a lull in the battle when both skimmers were some distance from each other. "It's like I'm fighting one of your other cowardly storm hawks!" He sneered, "Playing it safe are we Aerrow? Afraid to take a risk now?" Aerrow remained silent. "And you're too scared to even talk to me! Well, if you think you can beat me with such obvious moves, I'll have to remind you who you're dealing with."

With that, the Dark Ace leapt from his ride and crashed into Aerrow sat on his own. Aerrow threw up his blades at the last second and pushed the sword away from him. He tried to stand but the Dark Ace kicked and caught him square in the jaw. The blow sent him rolling onto one of the wings and he had to grab the side to avoid being thrown off.

He heard an angry screech and saw Radarr bite at the Dark Ace's ankle. Then the screech turned to one of pain. The glowing red blade cut into Radarr and he flew off the skimmer, a limp bundle of fur falling to the wastelands. Aerrow's breath caught in his throat as he leant over the wing to watch his best friend fall, _No..._

A searing pain in his side brought him crashing back to his current situation. Aerrow yelled as the Dark Ace twisted the blade deeper into his ribs. He slashed upwards with his free hand, only to have the Dark Ace grab his wrist and twist it until it snapped and the blade fell from his limp, lifeless hand. He yelled in agony and his broken wrist fell limply next to him. The Atmos spun around him.

The Dark Ace leered at Aerrow lying helpless beneath him. "You are weak Aerrow. You are nothing. And so falls another Sky Knight."

A strangled yell made Piper wheel her Heliscooter around to find its source. Finn and Junko to her left did likewise. Her breath hitched in her throat as she saw the Dark Ace standing over Aerrow, and as she saw the red sword twist into him and he let out another scream, she gasped.

"Aerrow!" Piper pushed her Heliscooter towards him. She could hear Finn and Junko's skimmers near her as they also accelerated towards their leader. She heard the Dark Ace chuckle, low and menacing, and he smiled as the three Storm Hawks closed in on him.

"Move any closer and your Sky Knight will lose his head." He told them in a calm voice. They all pulled up sharply, just a few skimmers' lengths away. "Now, I could defeat you all right here and now, beginning with Aerrow here." He leant into his blade and Aerrow had to clench his teeth together to stop from screaming again, but he couldn't stop the hiss that escaped him when the Dark Ace twisted the blade, grinding and burning into sinew and muscle. "Or, you all pledge allegiance to Cyclonia and join Master Cyclonis' Talons."

Piper glanced at Finn and Junko. Both where pale and watching her, neither looked like they had a plan anymore than she did. _Oh god..._ She thought with dread, _Aerrow...what do we do?_

From his position on the skimmer, Aerrow saw the Dark Ace's free hand move casually to his back pocket and take hold of something. A glint of light off the object made Aerrow's stomach lurch: it was a dark purple crystal, which could only be an oblivion crystal. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but the Dark Ace pushed the blade deeper into his side and stepped on his broken wrist at the same time with a sinister grin, shaking his head ever so slightly, and the pain stopped any coherent words from escaping his lips.

"Stop!" Piper cried. "Stop. You're surrounded; we'll...we'll blast you before you get to any one of us." It was all she could think of, and she it would make him at least stop for a moment.

"Well if that's your attitude..." The Dark Ace's eyes shifted to Aerrow and he grinned.

Time seemed to slow down as Aerrow watched the Dark Ace's hand move from his side and take aim at the three Storm Hawks in the air. He saw the look of shock and horror wash over their faces, and the look of triumph on the Dark Ace's. He saw his friends' hands reach for their accelerators and knew they would be too slow. He saw the first streak of white energy inside the oblivion crystal that started to make it glow from the inside. All of this happened in less than a second. It took Aerrow only a fraction of that time to decide what he had to do.

With his teeth gritted and his lips pulled back in a snarl, Aerrow pushed forwards into the Dark Ace's sword.

The unexpected force knocked the Dark Ace backwards onto the skimmer and the oblivion crystal flew from his grasp, as the red blade cut right through Aerrow.

He hissed in pain as the blade burst out of his back and the hilt dug into his front. The Dark Ace's grip on the handle broke as Aerrow crashed into him and they rolled on the wings of the skimmer.

Piper saw Aerrow throw himself forwards and force the two of them backwards. She grabbed the accelerator and charged forwards, gasping as she saw the end of the Dark Ace's blade protruding out of Aerrow's back. She whipped out her staff and swung at the Dark Ace's head.

He was too fast for her; the staff missed him by a hairs width as he ducked and pushed Aerrow off him. With one tug he pulled his sword free of Aerrow's side, making the red-head let loose a scream of agony. He jumped off the wind and dropped several feet before snapping open his glider and flying back to his own skimmer. A sudden shot of energy from Finn caught him unawares and he growled as it burnt his arm from shoulder to elbow.

"Until next time, Storm Hawks. Though now you're two members down, I doubt if you can even be called a squadron. I'll pass the good news on to Master Cyclonis." He shouted as he landed on his skimmer and took off for Cyclonia.

The Storm Hawks hovered next to Aerrow's skimmer. Piper jumped onto it and pulled Aerrow off the wings, closer to the seat.

"Argh!" He gritted his teeth in a futile attempt to stop the sound of his pain.

"I'm sorry, oh!" Piper flapped her hands as blood poured out of the gaping wound at both sides. She pushed down on the front and Aerrow shuddered. It seemed to have no effect on the rush of blood; it seeped between her fingers and his back was still open. "We have to stop the blood flow!" She yelled at Finn and Junko. Aerrow coughed weakly.

"Piper."

"I'm here Aerrow, I'm here." Tears started to stream down her face.

"I'm sorry..."

"Shh, no." She ripped the sleeves of her uniform and bundled them up before holding them over the wound in Aerrow's side.

"I'm sorry...that...I wasn't good enough. I...need all of you..."

"No no no, shhh." Piper looked in his emerald green eyes. Eyes filled with tears of pain and guilt and self-loathing. "I'm sorry Aerrow; I didn't mean any of that! You're...you're Aerrow, you're perfect, you can't die! I need you!"

He chuckled weakly, although his face was deathly white and he was surrounded by a pool of his own blood. A small smile touched his lips, and he stroked her face with the bloodied fingertips of his unbroken hand. "I'm sorry," He whispered, the burning fire that was the usual light in his eyes dimming, "I'm sorry...that I wasn't perfect...I tried...for you...for you..." His whisper faded away, his hand fell from Piper's face, and his eyes closed for the last time.

Piper stared at Aerrow's lifeless body. He was gone. Her best friend. Her first love. Her perfect Sky Knight.

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><p><strong>Not as I had it planned, but nothing ever works out as planned so there you go! Hope that tugged on some heartstrings, I know it did for me =( Keep on writing, !~A4E~!<strong>


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